Croke Park, located in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the largest stadiums in Europe, boasting a capacity of 82,300 people. As the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association, the stadium has played host to iconic sporting, cultural and international events. Imogen Ward interviewed Croke Park’s Sustainability Manager, Colin O’Brien, who detailed the stadium’s sustainability ecosystem. Article by Richard Hagan.
Croke Park – sometimes affectionately called ‘Croker’ – is widely regarded as the home of Irish Sport. And it has been that way for over a century.
The stadium first opened in 1884, when it was named the ‘Jones’ Road sports venue’, after which the Gaelic Athletic Association purchased the property in 1913. Several decades later, the stadium was treated to a massive, multi-phase modernisation and redevelopment.
By the time it was completed in 2005, Croke Park took its place as one of the biggest of its kind across Europe and the UK. Behind the scenes, Croke Park has implemented a far-reaching sustainability programme. Today, it is a world leader in sustainable events.
Rainwater capture at scale
For some companies, sustainability remains a relatively novel concept. But at Croke Park, sustainability was already made part of its daily operations as far back as the early 2000s.
“We have been on this sustainability journey for about 20 years now, probably long before many in our sector,” confirmed Colin O’Brien, Sustainability Manager. “Although we started with just collecting and measuring our sustainability data, we soon evolved that into a central ethos that guides how we operate the stadium every day, and how we plan and deliver events.”
A special highlight of the stadium’s sustainability programme is the rainwater harvesting system. Completed in January 2025, the system is delivering extremely impressive results.
“It captures about one-and-a-half million litres of rainwater from the stadium roof,” said Mr O’Brien. “The water is stored in an underground tank and subsequently used for pitch irrigation. We believe it is the largest rainwater harvesting system of its kind in Ireland and is certainly one of our biggest sustainability projects in recent times.”
By utilising rainwater to water the pitch, the stadium has reduced its utility water usage by between 10 and 15% annually. The rainwater harvesting system has proven to be so successful that the stadium has firm plans to connect the system to other areas in and around Croke Park, including restrooms, toilets and urinals. All of this is alongside smart controls that further reduce water usage in these areas.
Sustainable operations
In 2014, following eight years of hard work, the stadium officially diverted all its waste from landfill. Today, landfill is rarely used in Ireland, but Croke Park still segregates and processes its waste in the most sustainable way.
“All of our waste is either recycled, recovered, or reused,” explained Mr O’Brien. “This project was a major milestone for us because it required putting in place very robust waste management procedures and infrastructure. We also had to train a lot of staff and contractors over the course of many years, but the effort has paid off.2
Meanwhile, between 2025 and 2026, Croke Park’s carbon reduction targets were formally approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI). “It’s a framework that we see as the gold standard in carbon reduction,” Mr O’Brien added.
Croke Park owns a 70-acre turf farm located roughly half-an-hour drive from the stadium. This farm’s primary role is supplying turf for pitch renovations at the stadium.
“Our main reason for investing in this farm was to reduce the emissions and risk involved with importing turf from abroad, as we previously did,” explained Mr O’Brien. “If the turf gets delayed on trucks or ferries, then the turf essentially dies.”
The stadium is now planning to convert an unused 30-acre portion of the farm into a substantial solar power plant.
“We have received planning permission to build a ten-megawatt solar farm, which we expect to generate twice as much energy as we use at the stadium,” continued Mr O’Brien. “It won’t feed the stadium directly, but will supply the grid with 100% green energy which is a big sustainability story for us when it comes to our energy projects. This project is still in its early stages, but we expect to make significant progress in 2027.”
Promoting locally-sourced food
In 2024, Croke Park introduced a groundbreaking, delicious new menu concept that according to Mr O’Brien, its customers have praised: “We introduced our 50-Mile Menu, in conjunction with our catering partner. It’s a menu in which all of the food items come from within 50 miles of the stadium. This has been really, really popular with all of our customers!
“The menus also include carbon scoring, so people can see the carbon impact of each menu item. It’s not about taking menu options away from people, though. This is more about giving them the information to hopefully make more informed choices.”
Thanks partly to this menu, and partly to Croke Park’s sustainability ethos, the stadium has very intentionally built strong relationships with food vendors across Ireland.
“85 per cent of the food we serve across the stadium comes from within Ireland and 70 per cent of all the ingredients we use on our menus is from within 50 miles of the stadium,” explained Mr O’Brien. “And this includes from our own farm, where we grow vegetables and herbs, we have apple and pear trees, and we have our own beehives producing honey that is used on the stadium menus as well.
“This approach has been really popular with event clients and has actually won us a lot of business, particularly from companies looking to host low-carbon events.”
A collaborative journey
Croke Park proudly boasts a sustainable supply chain policy, which it asks all of its supplier partners to adhere to. This policy focuses largely on waste and energy management, as well as carbon emissions and ethical labour practices. And it asks deliberately tough questions. “Does the supplier have a sustainability report or policy? What are their plans to achieve net zero?” Mr O’Brien explained.
Crucially, however, this is not about penalising non-compliance. Rather, it is about Croke Park collaborating with its suppliers to solve sustainability issues together.
“Our approach is all about bringing our suppliers on the sustainability journey with us,” said Mr O’Brien. “This means, for example, asking them whether they can reduce their use of single-use plastics, or whether they can make their deliveries to us more efficient and less frequent, to reduce travel emissions.
“It’s also about helping the smaller businesses who work with us, particularly where they might not understand sustainability as well as we do. Some are making more progress than others, in this process. So, education is part of bringing them along on the journey with us. Telling them exactly what we need from them and the changes they can make.”
Looking forward, Mr O’Brien highlighted his enthusiasm for Croke Park’s collective approach to sustainability: “We value collaborating with other venues and businesses on shared challenges. I’m always on the ground talking to people, trying to solve problems together. When we then implement new policies and procedures and I can see change happening firsthand, that is very rewarding.”